Meji

Meji was my very first novel. It was a culmination of many, many hours of research and a desire to write an epic fantasy based on pre-colonial African history, culture, and traditions.

It wasn't my plan to write a book. I'm a history nerd, and one day long ago I realized I knew more about European history than I knew about the world of my main ancestors origin: the African continent. I thought it would be a struggle, because up to that point I knew of very few books on African history. Boy, was I wrong. My research opened the floodgates. I went from worrying if I would find enough information to discovering so much knowledge, I didn't know where to start.

But start I did. Instead of focusing on one specific culture, I decided to write a story that would contain as much storytelling based on as many cultures that I could. Each culture in Meji is based on an actual African culture or a composite of a few; every character name is from a specific culture and its meaning is an insight to that character. I began crafting the story in 2005; I completed it in 2008. I commissioned my cousin for the original cover art, and on the advice of an experience self published friend, I divided the 500 page manuscript into two books.

Then, an amazing thing happened. I met Charles R. Saunders, creator of the first Black Sword and Sorcery characters, Imaro and Dossouye. I discovered the Imaro books as I was working on Meji, and after a few years was able to get in contact with him through a mutual friend. That invitation sparked a friendship that lasted until Charles's death in 2020. A big fan of Imaro, I finally got the courage to ask Charles if he could read Meji and give me some feedback. To my pleasant surprised he said yes. Not only did he read it; he loved it! He also volunteered to writ the introduction to Meji Book One:

'Ndoro and Obaseki. Warrior and mystic. Twin brothers rescued from ritual infanticide, only to be separated not long after their birth. Two paths to follow. One destiny to fulfill.

In Meji, Milton J. Davis has created an African-oriented fantasy epic that is wide-ranging and deeply engrossing. The novel is set in Uhuru, an Africa that is not the same as the one we know. Uhuru is a continent in which the cultures of our world’s Africa developed in different directions, leading to a setting that is at once familiar and exotic.

Meji is a huge tapestry of a tale that encompasses a multitude of characters and a vast variety of cultures, tribes and kingdoms. Yet for all its twists and complexities, the story is tightly knit – told the way an African griot would tell it, strumming his kora as his audience listens raptly in the flickering glow of firelight …

As you join Obaseki and Ndoro on their separate and ultimately converging journeys through the heart of Uhuru, you will see how deeply the author has immersed himself in the ocean of African history, folklore and mythology, and how he has rearranged those elements in an entirely new way.

I know how Milton felt as he was writing Meji – for I’ve swum in that ocean myself. Many years ago, I studied sources similar to the ones Milton has perused, and invented an alternate Africa of my own: Nyumbani, the continent though which the heroic warrior Imaro wanders. My woman-warrior character, Dossouye, lives in yet another parallel version of the Bright Continent.

At that time, I knew the potential existed for the conception of many other variations on classic African themes. A limitless number of stories were waiting to be written by other authors. Consider the dozens, if not hundreds, of ways the legend of King Arthur has been retold. That’s just one story, from one culture. Africa, with its hundreds of cultures stretching back to the beginning of humanity, offers infinite opportunities for stories of fantasy and sword-and-sorcery – or, as I prefer to call it, sword-and-soul.

In Meji, Milton has made full use of those opportunities. From the umuzis of the Sesu to the desert stronghold of the Ihaggaren; from the cosmopolitan city of Mawena to the river kingdom of Tacuma, the author’s vivid prose sweeps the reader along on a wave of pulse-pounding action, vivid description and agonizing moral dilemmas.

You will meet a wide array of characters as you accompany the twin protagonists on their quest to transform the Two into One – from the haughty to the humble, from the virtuous to the vicious, from the divine to the demonic. And the women of Uhuru are equal to – and sometimes more than a match for – the men.

When I first read Meji, I was profoundly impressed by the sheer scope of the endeavor and the narrative skill of the author. Meji is a story that needed to be told – and for Milton J. Davis, it is only the first of many.

Read on, and become One with the Two …'

Ten years after the successful release of the Meji Duology, I re-released Meji as a single novel, the way it was meant to be experienced. I used art commissioned by my wife from Mshindo Kuumba, the same artist that would create the art for the updated Imaro novels by Charles. It was a fitting end to a journey that had begun decades ago. It's my first and favorite novel, and I'm reminded of that every time I read it.

Meji Special Edition is on sale this week from MVmedia. Go to the website and check it out if you haven't already. I think you'll enjoy it. Sword and Soul Forever!

Meji Special Edition